Celestial Spirit
by Cruxis' Kingdom Heart Cherubim
Summary: Lloyd mysteriously vanishes one day, only to return two weeks later under a new name and an even greater mysterious following him. This 'new' Lloyd is completely unlike anything Collete and the others have ever seen. What's going on? There is something much bigger going on then anyone is saying, but what does Lloyd have anything to do with it?


**This is an idea, like an actual idea for a series I've been thinking of. I don't believe I have any Ocs in this story. Explaining how would spoil a bit of the story, though it might be stretched on how there aren't any Ocs, and if they are Ocs, well...Dammit.  
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It was the strange feeling of Deja-vu plaguing his mind that he found himself wandering the streets of this bustling sea-side town. He watched as people of all age and gender amble the cobblestone streets leading its citizens to and fro with vivid interest. Tilting his head in mild confusion as the boy watched a young woman chatting with an elderly gentleman over his apparent wares.

He furrowed his brows in thought. She was...haggling, right? That's what you do when you try to convince someone to sell their products at a lower price. Right? That's confusing. Why doesn't she just go catch her own fish if she doesn't like the prices. Probably be easier than attempting to persuade that stubborn old man to change.

The sight was so interesting that he spent a good portion of his morning watching each and every person go through their own personal routines with an almost absentmindedness that he concluded this was an everyday thing for them. That part always confused him, they spend their lives practically doing the same thing over and over again with nothing but their own present in mind. But he knew that they also thought about the future, some went with the flow, doing absolutely nothing but live their lives while others actively strive to achieve their goals.

Looking towards the future is good and all, but what about the ones who were left behind and forgotten? The few who were pushed aside and trampled under the feet of the ambitious or tossed aside like yesterday's trash.

Speaking of being left behind, there was someone now. Standing in the amidst of the crowd was a young girl around the age of 8 stumbling between the legs of the taller individuals, nervously shifting her eyes around looking for something. Nobody stopped to help her, despite her bright, yellow dress dulled with blood and her face stained with dirt and tears. Her once clean and tidy pigtails were in complete disarray, strands of green hair barely held up by dirty grey ribbons.

The boy frowned, taking in the younger girl's lost nature and appearance sadly. He never liked dealing with children, not because he found them annoying or the effort unnecessary, he simply couldn't stand the specific circumstances required to emerge like that. Even though he hated thinking of how the children ended up like that, he always found joy in assisting them anyway possible.

With these thoughts in mind, he brought a smile to his face, carefully weaving his way towards her. He knelt beside her, "What is the matter little one?" His voice was gentle and soft.

The girl jumped, startled, staring at him with tear glistened eyes and trembling slightly.

"C-Can..." She stuttered, "Can you see me?"

He nodded, smiling brightly as her eyes lit up with joy. She was slightly hesitate about him, bringing her hand upward and gripping his arm, smile growing when she felt the warmth of his arm.

"Y-you really can see me!" She cried in joy, diving to embrace him. Burying her face in his chest and sobbing loudly with tears of rapture. The two remained in silence as the younger of the two sobbed, taking in the warmth of the older in awe. She felt a hand over her hand, ruffling her green locks much like her own father did.

"Feel better?" The boy asked, his arms still wrapped around her small body. She nodded, slowing backing out of the embrace. The girl ignored any features about the other in her moment of elation at finding someone who could actually see her, that when she actually took note of his face, her own face flushed pink.

"Y-you're really pretty mister." She said bluntly. He blinked, before bursting into laughter. His windswept hair spiked towards the right side and was a lovely shade of white. Though looking closely she could see his hair was actually a very light shade of brown. His eyes were roughly the same color as his hair only with a more definite shade of gold and brown in them. He was wearing a high colored black jacket complete with a hood and a secondary color of red. The sleeves of the jacket were long, covering a portion of his gloved fingers. The pants he wore were baggy with a lot of pockets (cargo pants) held up by two pairs of belts criss-crossing into an X and a pair of dark tannish shoes.

"Oh sorry. I didn't mean to laugh." the older teen said, wiping a tear from his eyes, "Not many people usually say that about me as bluntly as you did."

She blushed lightly, a little ashamed of herself for her comment but she really couldn't help it. "Um..." She started, still embarrassed from earlier, "What's your name? Mine's Yulissa."

He smiled, "Yulissa? That's a beautiful name. Mine is Celestial, but you can call me Cele."

This time it was her who blinked, "Celestial?"

"Yep. Pretty strange huh?"

"Yeah."

Cele briefly took a moment to gaze around the plaza they were in, everybody was still immersed in their own schedules to notice him or a blood-stained girl. "So," He began, "What's a little girl like you wandering around alone?"

Yulissa remembered the reason she was here, her eyes growing sad once again. "I'm looking for my mommy." She said in a sad voice, lowering her head. The girl didn't want to see his face as she said this in the pitiful state she was in.

"Oh..." There was a pause before, "Would you like me help you?"

"Really?" She couldn't help as her voice cracked.

"Yep." Cele smiled, "I can make you visible when we find your mom, but it won't be for long. Will that be okay with you?"

Her eyes widened, "C-can you do that?" she asked in shock. His joyful smile was all the answer she needed. He held out his hand to her, "Well come on. Better start looking eh?"

She grinned her own joyous smile, taking his hand as they walked.

* * *

><p>The two passed by many people in gowns or armor with packs of food and clothing or supplies and weapons. There were so many Yulissa couldn't help but let her eyes roam. Regardless of her sightseeing, she guided Cele on the familiar route she remembered that led to her home.<p>

They passed by a group of seven when things went a bit wild. Someone gasped and possibly another practically jumped Cele shouting, "Lloyd!"

Even after just meeting each other, Yulissa could tell Cele was confused. Had these people mistaken him for this 'Lloyd' character? She watched as the 6 others in the group crowed around them. Fearfully, she hid behind Cele's leg, gripping his hand tightly.

"Lloyd! What the hell is your problem! We were so worried about you!" A black-haired girl clothed in purple shouted.

"I'm with the voluptuous beauty on this one bud." The red haired man said.

"You picked a rather unfortunate time to disappear on us young man." A woman with silver hair replied. The one hugging Cele began chattering loudly. "What happened Lloyd? Why did you leave like that?"

"Why'd you dye your hair like that Lloyd?" A boy slightly older than herself asked, taking in Cele's appearance, to his near white hair and eyes and strange clothes.

Cele frowned, gently removing the blonde girl with some difficultly both due to her surprisingly strong grip and Yulissa had taken his other hand hostage in her own death grip.

"Lloyd? Sorry, I don't know any Lloyds. My name is Cele."

He spared nothing more than a glance, "I really got to go now. Hope you find whoever you're looking for." And with that, the two were off without another word.

"Ah wait! Lloyd!"

Colette called out, breaking out into a run after her old friend.

"Oi bud!"

"Wait."

* * *

><p>A certain half-Elvin teacher thought about her student's words as they chased after said student. His physical appearance startled her just a bit. She had sensed his mana shortly before seeing him, and what she felt was completely different to Lloyd's normal mana signature. The base of the signature, the part that remains the same at all ages she could recognize immanently. Who he was remained the same, what changed, much to her surprise, was the feeling. Suddenly, Lloyd wasn't her dense, but kind student anymore. It took every ounce of her willpower to remain indifferent to his new mana.<p>

This mana she felt wasn't like anything she's ever experienced before. Not even Kratos' mana or even Remiel's could compare to the sense of power that radiated from Lloyd. Genis had been too overjoyed at finding Lloyd to notice, but he could accurately analysis his old friend's mana now.

Not only that, the boy held out his right arm, almost as if someone had taken hold of it and was guiding him with the way it jerked towards a new direction. She frowned, not sensing anything before blinking. Did she...?

To say Cele was completely fine after the experience with those people was a huge understatement. He was rather unnerved by the name 'Lloyd.' It sounded very familiar to him for some reason.

"Cele?" the voice of Yulissa brought him out of his inner musing. Right, he didn't have time to worry about something as silly as his discomfort from a name of all things. Yulissa needed him to be at his best right now, not fretting about this. The name can wait.

He smiled gently, "Don't worry Yulissa. I'm fine."

She smiled back, dragging him further towards home. The further they went the darker, and rougher the streets became, weeds poked out from the stone walkways as years of dirt had stained the once grey stones an ugly brown color. Those people from earlier would easily be able to follow them as his footprints were clearly visible in the dirt. His eyes narrowed as he had come to a conclusion, the further the two went, the more abandoned this place seemed to get.

Yulissa finally came to a stop, staring at an empty lot in shock. Aged and rotting wood lay disregarded in the dirt as grassy vines and weeds grew around in large quantities around the lot.

He was right, nobody's lived in this section of the town for decades.

"Yulissa?" he asked, his own worried tone coming through. She had her fists clenched and was visible trembling.

"Oh, that's right... I remember now." Yulissa whispered, the tremble in her voice, "T-they...They're all dead..."

She turned to face him, tears streaming down her face. Cele felt his heart break at her heart-broken expression. He walked up to her, leaning down and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to tell me Yulissa."

"B-but! T-they're all dead! She shouted, sobbing loudly, "The Desians came and killed everyone!"

Yulissa brought her hands to her face, crying "I didn't want to die!"

Cele watched sadly as the tears fell, the death of a child always hit him the hardest, even more so when they say those 5 little words. There was little he could do to help them when they were like this but stay and be there for them.

The girl sobbed for a few more minutes, before she was able to recollect herself. "I-it had always been my dream to see the world. So I've been saving up my money to pay for it, but than the Desians came. They wrecked everything and before I knew it, I was watching everything burn. I tried to stop them but they never saw me. I would just pass right through them. I don't want to be alone and forgotten..."

It was then she thought of something. The pain of not being seen and the shock of finding someone who could see her were too much for her young brain to handle. But... She looked up at Cele.

"How..." Cele looked at her, "How can you see me Cele?"

Cele was silent, unsure of how to continue, opening his mouth only to close it a second later. "I-I'm the same as you Yulissa, but I don't know how or why I'm this way. The only thing I knew at the time was my name and my duty to help as many people as I could to move on. I suppose that requires me to be able to interact with both sides..." He grew silently, as if he was thinking of something deeply. After a short while he spoke.

"Yulissa..." At the sound of her name, the girl looked up to him, "There is a way to be like me, being seen by others..."

"Really?"

"Yep. Would you give me the honor of assisting me in my noble little work? I'm afraid that's the only way I know to give you the same conditions as me."

"Can I?"

Cele offered his pinky to her, which she cheerfully gave him her own with a smile. And that's when all hell broke lose.

* * *

><p>The second they lost sight of him was the moment they knew something was wrong. For the ones with Elvin blood in them, alarms went off as hundreds of different mana signatures suddenly burst to life within the vicinity they last saw Lloyd head to. Who ever those signatures belonged to, they were strong.<p>

"What's going on?" Sheena said, watching from the shadows as men dressed in similar military uniforms ran about the area.

"Something tells me we really don't want to know." Zelos piped in quietly. Groups of them were smirking arrogantly, guns locked and loaded.

One of the taller men nodded his head, signaling the other men to begin the mission. Rotten doors and walls were kicked down, old buildings thoroughly examined and when nothing was being found, the higher the leader's temper rose.

"What do you mean you can't find him!" He screamed, face turning a delicate shade of red, "The sensors don't lie. He's somewhere around here, now find him!"

The soldiers increased their efforts fearfully, knocking down walls and examining every corner in fine detail.

"Who..." Genis started, before catching sight of something. Lloyd (Cele? That was definitely Lloyd) was waving at them with his forefinger to his lips. A sign to be quiet and follow him. He quickly notified the others and quietly the group made their way towards the light-haired boy. They had questions in their eyes, but the look Lloyd sent them told them it wasn't the time.

The group silently followed the boy as he made his way around the frantic soldiers. They weaved and dodged their way through abandoned alleyways and empty streets in an effort to avoid the soldiers. The rummaging of the soldiers and the silent pitter-patter of their feet were the only thing that could be heard in the night.

Just as they thought they were home free, a loud beeping noise resonated through the air. Lloyd swore, "Hope you people are fast runners!" He shouted, taking off into a full run.

"Lloyd What the hell is going on!" Sheena yelled, chasing after him.

"You really wanna discuss that now?!"

By now one of the soldiers spotted them from the shouting, turned to look at them and swore loudly.

"Goddammit! He's running!"

At this Lloyd grinned, annoying the hell out of these guys was so fun! He turned to the ones following him, "I'll catch up with you guys later! Kay?"

"Wait!"

Lloyd didn't bother to answer, he simply upped the velocity in which he was running. Within seconds he was outrunning them with speed that greatly surprised them. For every 3 steps they took, Lloyd was 10 away and still rapidly gaining distance. There was a wall ahead yet Lloyd continued speeding towards it. One of the more amazing things Colette has seen Lloyd do, this certainly wasn't one of them. As soon as Lloyd reached the wall, he jumped, vaulting over said wall and landing on the roof before taking off with great speed over the rooftops.

* * *

><p>Losing the group was so easy it was pitiful, even with that infernal machine of theirs. (He briefly noted what he said and snickered.) Thinking back to the people from earlier, he felt a sort of longing to go back to them. Perhaps there was something truthful in the fact that they seemingly knew something about him. The name did sound some what familiar but for the life of him he couldn't remember why. He knew for certain he's never been in this city. You know, now that he thought of it, nothing really seemed familiar about his surroundings. Like someone had just selected a random country in the world and dumped him there with no way of knowing where he was or how to get back.<p>

Maybe he should go with them, at least for now. He had a new recruit to take care of, a child at that. Speaking of said recruit, he better head over to where she was hiding and pick her up before going any further with this.

Being the smart girl that she was, used her new found ability to remain invisible to the normal eye and practically walked right in front of those idiots and none of them were the wiser. Now just where to find her?

He catch a abrupt flash of green and yellow in the corner of his eye and found his new assistant cleverly hiding in the shadows of the alleyways.

"Man, better be careful with you, eh Yulissa?" Cele said as he dropped down from the roof. She jumped, panic manifesting in her face before she realized who just spoke. Yulissa ran up to him and jumped him, hugging his waist with a relieved smile.

Cele grinned, "Told you I'd be okay right?"

She nodded, "Yep!"

"Well come on. Better find a place to crash for tonight."

With that the two walk off in search of a hotel to stay. The girl glowing with joy as more and more people noticed her, she may not have liked that they were freaking out over the amount of blood that stained her clothes but she was happy none the less. Cele was asking around for directions, telling some story that they were attacked by a couple of monsters that's why she was covered in blood because her 'older brother' simply didn't have any spare clothes to give her after wrapping her 'wounds.'

The people were understandably sympathetic with their situation, directing the two towards a hotel close enough to a cloths shop that would be willing to set the 'siblings' up with a room. Cele was nice enough to buy her some new clothes before renting a room. She now had a short green dress with gold lining, long green and white sleeves, pale green pants and boots.

As soon as the two entered the room, Cele suggested she go take a bath, to wash off all the dirt and blood. She was skeptic at that, but complied anyway.

* * *

><p>Though to be honest, taking a bath after several years of being caked in the same dirt and blood she died in was rather strange, but welcomed none the less. The warmth was what she missed the most. Death was cold and unbearably lonely. Sure there were other spirits in Palmacosta, there were always a sudden increase of spirits after raids from the Desians, but they usually kept to themselves. A few of the children who had died sometimes banded together in acts of loneliness, but they don't usually like to include outsiders at times.<p>

But she supposed that she would be seeing those spirits more often now considering her new employment under Cele. Honestly, some of the older spirits really scared her at times. Thankfully, like most spirits, they had little power to use in their moments of hatred and rage.

Now Yulissa was wondering just what exactly she would be doing now.

She heard a knock on the door outside, the door creaking open and several sets of footsteps. 'I wonder what's going on?' she though with a confused tilt of her head. Quickly washing away years of dirt, she finished, drying herself off with a towel Cele had left her and slipped on a pair of cotton pajamas. Opening the door a crack she peeked in, noting that the people who had mistaken Cele for this 'Lloyd' person where there. What were they doing here?

The one with blonde hair noticed her with confusion in her eyes.

"Are you going to explain yourself now Lloyd?" Raine said, slightly irritated by the sound of her voice.

"Yeah, can't leave us hanging bud!" Zelos exclaimed. Sheena scoffed, "Looks like we agree on something for once."

Cele frowned, the gesture marring his seemingly angelic appearance, "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?"

"What do you mean Lloyd." The younger silverette asked.

"You seem really familiar but I'm quite certain I've never met any of you."

The silence that followed was frightening. Everyone was staring at him in disbelief.

"T-That's not funny Lloyd." Genis stuttered, a hurtful expression in his eyes.

"T-This is a joke right?"Colette was begging now.

Cele cast his eyes downward, unable to meet their eyes, "I'm sorry, I don't."

The group fell into another phase of awkward silence, each one holding in the hurt they felt that Lloyd didn't remember them. For a short while, nothing was said, until the man with blue hair, Regal, spoke up, "Lloyd... What's the first thing you remember?"

A light eyebrow was raised, but he complied anyway "The first thing I remember was waking up in a bunch of rubble and only knowing my name, Celestial."

A few eyes were meant among the group as he said his name, 'Celestial?' was what they were thinking.

"And," Raine began, "How long ago was that?"

A thoughtful expression appeared on his face, "Hmmm, I believe that was little over six years ago."

Her eyes, as well as the others except for the pink-haired girl, for some strange reason, widened, "But...That's impossible!"

Cele tilted his head, "How so?" he asked.

It was the pink-haired child that answered this time, "Lloyd has only been gone 2 weeks." Her tone was flat and Yulissa couldn't help but think it was also emotionless.

Cele frowned at this, feeling something was off about the whole thing. He knew for a fact that his memory started roughly six years ago, if these people really knew him, why did they say he's been gone only 2 weeks?

"That's not right." Cele said, mostly to himself, "I know for certain it was six years ago, so how..."

"But how can you know for certain six years had passed?" Zelos inquired. All eyes turned slightly more hopeful.

Cele rolled his eyes, "Of course it was six years ago." he proclaimed, a shadow appearing in his eyes, "I'd never forget _that _day..."

Everyone, even Presea, noted the dark undertone with confusion. Suddenly his eyes seemed much, _much _older with a pain they couldn't even begin to imagine. The look was much different than what she knew Cele was like, and the girl never wanted to see him like that again.

Gathering up her courage, she left her position behind the door, gracefully making her way towards the older boy and plopping down right next to him. Only someone who has experienced death could possible understand the pain.

He smiled at her, ruffling her green locks with his hand, "Strange ain't it?" he said with a grin.

She nodded in agreement, "Strange but wonderful." He burst out laughing and Yulissa couldn't help but compare his laughter with silver chimes, beautifully musical.

**I have a lot on my mind when it comes to this kind of stuff. -sweatdrop- This is going to be expanding an original idea, but I'm going to try not to include any Ocs...Hahaha. Well, if you enjoyed this please leave a review!  
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